Vacuum cleaner construction



May 24, 1938.

VACUUM CLEANER CONSTRUCTION Filed June 15, 1936 INVENTOR ALEX AITKEN ATTORNEYS A. AITKEN 2,118,721

Patente ay 24, 1938 VACU CLEANER CONSTRUCTION Alex Aitken, Detroit, Mich, assignor to Eureka Vacuum Cleaner .Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application June 15, 1936, Serial No. 85,376

3 Claims.

This invention relates generally to vacuum cleaners and refers more particularly to portable vacuum cleaners of the type equipped with a housing having illuminating means and having an opening in the front wall thereof for receiving an adapter.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide a closure for the opening in the front wall of the housing of the cleaner in the form of a plate having an extension forming a guard for the lamp or illuminating means.

25 ly onthe plane indicated by the line 2--2 of.

Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a. perspective view of the combined lamp guard and closure.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, 30 it will be noted that there is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, a portion of a vacuum cleaner it provided with a housing it having a front wall 12 and having a downwardly opening lamp receiving compartment l3 beyond the wall l2 at the 5 upper end of the housing. As"clearly shown in Figure 2, the compartment i3 is formed integral with the housing It and is of sufilcient dimension to completely receive the lamp M. The arrangement is such that the rays of light from 40 the lamp are directed downwardly at the front side of the wall 12 toward the surface to be cleaned.

In accordance with conventional practice, an 45 opening it is formed through the front wall l2 of the housing to provide for extending a hose attachment coupling (not shown) intothe eye it of the fan ll. In the present instance, the open- ,ing it is normally closed by means of a sheet 50 metal cover plate i8 having an extension l9 at the upper end thereof extending across the downwardly directed opening of the compartment l3 to form a guard for the lamp M. It will be observedfrom Figure 1 that the portion i9 is slot- 55 ted as at to simulate a grill and to permit the light rays from the lamp to be reflected through the guard upon the surface to be cleaned.

In order to facilitate attaching the cover plate l8to the front wall I! of the housing, I provide means efiective upon movement of the cover 5 plate toward the front surface of the wall I2 to snap into engagement with an edge of the opening I5 in the wall l2. This is accomplished in the present instance by a fastener element 2| in the form of a resilient strip of metal having a 10 body portion 22 secured to the rear face of the plate It and having flexible free end portions beyond the securing means. The extreme upper end 23 of the strip 2| is spaced rearwardly from the adjacent surface of the cover plate ill a disl5 tance less than the thickness of the front wall I2 of the housing, and is connected to the body portion 22 of the strip by means of an open return bent portion 2t, designed to permit the degree of flexing of the upper end 23 ofthe strip re quired to insert a portion of the front wall I? of the housing between the extremity 23 of the strip and adjacent surface of the cover plate l8.

The lower end of the strip M is provided with a springfinger 25 connected to the body portion 22 of the strip by means of an open return bent portion 26 similar to the portion M. In assembling the cover plate it, the upper end 23 of the strip M is inserted into the opening l5 and the cover plate is shifted upwardly relative to the 30 front wall it to cause a portion of this wall to extend between the upper end 23 of the strip 2] and the adjacent surface of the cover plate l8. Inasmuch as the spacing between the upper end portion 23 of the strip and the rear surface of the cover plate I8 is less than the thickness of the wall l2, it necessarily follows that the portion 23' of the strip is 'tensioned sufficiently to yieldably clamp the'upper portion of the cover plate 58 to the front surface of the latter. Upon com- 40 pletion of this operation, the inclined portion 21 of the spring finger 25 engages the marginal edge of the opening l5, through the front wall l2 at a point diametrically opposite the end 23, and movement of the lower end of the cover plate I8 toward the wall I2 flexes the finger sufficiently to provide for snapping the oppositely inclined surface 28 intoengagement with the rear side of the adjacent portion of the wall l2. Due to theopen return bent portion 26 connecting the finger 25 to the body portion 22 of the strip M, the finger is normally under tension when in engagement with the adjacent marginal edge portion of the front wall 62, with the result that the lower portions of the cover plate it are also edge of thefront wall it of the housing.

yieldably clamped against the front surface of the wall 52.

With the above construction, it will be noted that the cover plate may be readily removed from the'iront wall l2 of the housing by merely prying the lower end of the cover plate outwardly. This causes'the inclined surface 2% to flex the finger 25 sufiiciently to permit releasing the latter from engagement with the adjacent marginal In order to assist removing the cover plate it from assembled relation with the housing, it will be noted. that the lower end 29 of the former is fiared outwardly from the front wall E2 of the housing to afford the clearance required for the operator to either insert an implement, or the tip of one of his fingers between the cover and front wall 82 of the housing.

' Thus, from the foregoing, it will be observed that I have provided a relatively simple, inexpensive closure for the adapter opening usually provided in the front wall of a vacuum cleaner housing capable of being readily attached to and removed from the housing. In addition, it will be observed that I have provided 'a closure of the above type having an extension forming an effective guard for the lamp employed to illuminate the surface being cleaned in advance of the housing. Y

What I claim is my invention is:

1. In a vacuum cleaner, 2. housing having an opening through the front wall thereof and havaria'za ing a downwardly opening compartment at the front side of said wall, illuminating means in the compartment, a closure for the opening through the front wall of the housing comprising a cover plate having a slotted portion errtending across the opening of the compartment to form a guard for the ilhlminating means, and means detachably securing the cover plate to the front wall or the housing. 1

2. In a vacuum cleaner, a housing having an opening through the front wall thereof and having an integral compartment located above the openingat the front side of said well, said compartment having a downwardly directed opening for the passage of light rays, illuminating means in said compartment, and a cover plate removably secured to the opening through the front wall of the housing and having a portion extending across the downwardly directed opening in the compartment to form a guard for the illuminating means.

3. In a vacuum cleaner, a housing having an opening through the front wall thereof and having a downwardly opening compartment located at the front side of said wall above the opening through the latter, and a cover plate removably secured to the opening through the front wall of the housing and having a perforated extension extending across the downwardly directed opening in the compartment.

ALEX AITKEN. 

